* Mark Newman of MLB.com talked to future Hall of Fame managers Joe Torre, Bobby Cox, and Tony La Russa about the art of filling out a lineup card, and Torre provided my favorite quote: “With our current lineup, you know where [Matt] Kemp, [Andre] Ethier, Manny [Ramirez], and [Rafael] Furcal will be. Those guys will be in the top four or five spots.”
Torre has recently come to his senses by finally using Kemp near the middle of the order, but overall this season the guy with the second-highest batting average and third-best OPS on the Dodgers has been “in the top four or five spots” just 38 times in 139 games. By comparison, Kemp has batted sixth (24), seventh (46), eighth (21), or ninth (3) a total of 94 times. And this is a career .302/.349/.485 hitter who’s batting .306/.363/.506 this season. That’s some art.
* Yesterday the Nationals were thinking about shifting Cristian Guzman to second base in an effort to overhaul their infield defense. Today the Nationals “plan to revamp the bullpen” this offseason. Translation: Teams that lose 100 games in back-to-back seasons are often motivated to make lots of changes.
* Mike Cameron’s strained hamstring is expected to keep him out until at least Friday, causing Adam McCalvy of MLB.com to write that “the Brewers are well-covered in the outfield, with Corey Patterson, Jody Gerut, and Jason Bourgeois all available to play center field.” You know something is structurally wrong with a sentence when “well-covered” and “Corey Patterson” are used in tandem.
* By making his 28th start of the season yesterday Josh Beckett triggered his $12 million option for 2010.